Service at Widener: My Lesson in Community Building

Communities are powerful. I witnessed that in middle school volunteering in programs offered in the Chester Upland School District. Even as a young student, I remember the profound sense of belonging and pride that came with volunteering across Chester. My experience demonstrated that deliberate and meaningful community engagement can have a long-lasting impact on everyone involved. That belief shaped who I am today and inspired me to join the Bonner Leader Program at Widener.

As a Bonner Leader, I was proud to participate in Widener’s annual MLK Day of Service. The annual, city-wide event celebrates the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and legacy with unity through service and reflects on King’s vision of justice, equality, and compassion. The daylong event featured a peace march from City Hall to our Chester campus, a city clean-up, interactive discussions with students, staff and community members, and more. It left me with a deep sense of belonging and helped me discover how I, and others at Widener, can carry King’s legacy forward. 

As a future construction manager, for instance, I’ve uncovered the many connections between my career path and King’s vision. While I study how to build businesses, homes, and skyscrapers, I’m also learning how to build communities. My career path prepares me to help influence a city or town’s future through changing and creating infrastructure. From highways to high-rises, construction managers are essential to safer, stronger communities. My work stands to affect not only the project site, but the entire community around it.

King, in many ways, was a builder as well. Rather than bricks and mortar, King built communities by empowering those around him. He called upon others to take action through service and seek a more equitable and fair future for everyone. We can carry out his vision today by continuing to build belonging and find common ground with one another on campus, in the classroom and beyond. 

Whether it’s MLK Day or other activities throughout the year, the time I spend engaging with towns and cities, like Chester, teaches me how to truly understand a community and find ways to build the brighter future that King envisioned for all of us.

Semaj Smith-Barber ’28 is a construction management major in the School of Engineering and a member of the Bonner Leader Program.